I stand up from his lap. I can't think clearly when I'm this close to him and when every breath I take is filled with his infamous smell.

"I don't ... I don't know, Adrian. I'm too confused right now, I just don't know what to think." My mind is too full. My brain is overthinking and finding reasons why he showed up here. It's like I can't believe him, although my gut is saying he's telling the truth. I'm just so scared to trust him.

Adrian puts his elbows on his knees, leaning forward. He looks so hopeful and so desperate, his face is raw with emotions. He has never shown that many emotions in such a short period of time. His face is usually hard to read, but not tonight. I know he's trying to hide his feelings, but he's failing.

"I'm prepared to beg you if I have to, Cassandra," he says hoarsely.

My eyes widen. I can't imagine him ever doing that – for anyone. He's a man with pride. "Don't," I say before anything crazy comes to his mind. It's not my intention for him to humiliate himself. That won't help my wandering thoughts and overthinking mind. "That won't help or change anything. I just want some time to think about this, Adrian. I don't want to jump into something I'll regret later. You really hurt me with your actions. I need to learn to start putting myself first and know what's good for me." What I don't say is that I hope he's good for me.

"And if you'll convince yourself I'm not good for you, I won't stand a chance with you," he says what I don't. "Gotcha." He stands up, looking miserable as ever. He takes his suit jacket and I panic a little because he looks like he's leaving. But, I remind myself, that is for the best. "How about breakfast tomorrow?"

"That's not enough time for me to think –"

"Lunch, then."

I sigh in exasperation. "Adrian," is all I say. This man really is something else. "A week. At least."

He doesn't like that. His eyes darken. "Dinner, then. Tomorrow. I'll come to pick you up."

"No," I object, but Adrian is already walking towards the door. I turn around and gape at him. He throws the suit jacket over his shoulder, looking like he came straight from some magazine cover. A million dollar sight, that's what he is.

He turns at the door. "I think you still have my number." I see he left the phone I left behind at his house - my phone - on my table. 

"Yes, but –"

"Good. Be ready at 8 tomorrow." He gives me a wink and before I know it, he's gone, leaving me staring incredulously at the closed door.

I sit down on the chair like an empty bag. "What in the God's name just happened?"

I can't go tonight.

It takes me a long time to find the courage and send Adrian this text. I don't know why I'm so afraid of even texting him. I know I'm scared shitless to see him again tonight.

I don't know what to tell him. I'm afraid that whatever decision I'm going to make, I'm going to regret. That's why I asked him for more time, which he wasn't willing to give me.

Or I'm just afraid that I already know the answer, but I'm afraid to give it to him because I'm scared how things will progress from then on.

Adrian calls me instead of sending me a text back as I expected. I panic and let it go straight to the voicemail. That doesn't stop him. He calls me two more times before he sends me a text.

Pick up, is all his text says.

I roll my lips into my mouth when I see the screen lighting up with his name again. I pick up the phone. "What's the matter, Cassandra?" he asks me before I could say anything.

"I have other plans tonight," I blurt out the lie.

Adrian chuckles. He sees right through me. "You didn't have any plans for tonight when I saw you yesterday," he says patiently, deciding to go through with my obvious lie.

"Well, no, I made them today."

"Mmm," he hums. "With who?"

"A friend. We're going out for a drink." I close my eyes. I'm so terrible at lying.

There's a pause on the other side of the phone. "With your co-worker?" There's an edge to Adrian's voice that wasn't there before.

"Pardon?" I blink a few times.

"Nothing. Cancel your plans, I'm not postponing our dinner. See you tonight, darling." He ends the call.

I stare down at the phone screen in disbelief. And then I angrily dial his number again. He picks up on the second ring. "I don't have an answer for you yet," I say, this time me being the one not giving him a chance to speak first.

"You do, Cassandra, and we both know what it is. You can dress casually. I can't wait to see you." That last part he adds with a lot more feelings in his voice. More than he has ever done. He ends the call once again.

I huff, not knowing why I even bothered. I knew that he wouldn't postpone. And maybe I don't want him to. Maybe I just wanted to hear his voice.

I don't put much effort into dressing up and making myself look beautiful. I was working today and when I came home, I wanted to take a nap because my body is so used to sleeping a lot and I didn't sleep well tonight. But I just couldn't fall asleep.

I'm anxious about tonight. I don't know how it's going to go. I still have a few questions and doubts running through my mind about all of this.

I didn't try too hard because I wanted to show Adrian that I truly didn't want to meet him tonight. Childish, I know, but I don't care. A part of me wants to go against his wish and just go somewhere he can't find me when he comes to pick me up, but the other part of me knows I can't avoid this conversation forever.

When he knocks on the door, I make him wait for three minutes full before I come to the door. And when I open it, I immediately regret I didn't try harder with my looks. He looks ... increíble. He's freshly shaved and he's wearing trousers and a dress shirt, two buttons undone. I don't know how he's not cold or if he just doesn't show it.

"Ready to go?" he asks, smiling big. He leans in to kiss me and I turn my head so his lips hit my cheeks.

"What do you think?" I ask snarkily. I actually hope he's not taking me to some fancy restaurant or something because jeans, a simple hoodie and no makeup is probably not suitable for the restaurants he's going to.

Adrian's expression turns into pure amusement. "Let's go, then." He lets me walk before him down to his car. If I had to guess which one is his, I'd guess correctly. It's the only luxurious car parked in this area.

Adrian opens the door for me and I sit inside, looking straight forward. "Where are we going?" I ask Adrian when he starts the car.

"At my place." He glances at me.

My head sharply turns in his direction. "What?" I ask faintly.

"Not to the mansion," he corrects quickly. "My other house."

"Your other ... house?" I'm confused. He has another house?

Adrian nods. "I have another house, just for myself. No one has ever lived there beside me, not even housekeepers. I prefer that one over the mansion. It's just at the border of the city. I like the place," he adds, smiling at me.

Wow. I'm learning so many new things about him now.

Adrian kindly offers that I can change the music, but, in all honesty, my racing thoughts are too loud. I don't even hear the music. So I assure him that whatever we're listening to is good.

Adrian castes a few glances at me, but doesn't try to start a conversation with me. He understands I need some time and I'm happy he respects that. I mostly look out of the window so my eyes don't wander to him too much.

His house stands in a nice area. It's more in a private area. Not many houses are around and they're all far away. A soft wind blows in my direction, messing my hair. I wrap my coat tighter around myself. It's a bit colder up here.

Adrian puts his hand on my back, leading me towards the front door. I almost flinch at his touch. "Come. Let's go inside. It's warmer in there."

I shouldn't expect anything less than a luxury when I step inside, but I'm still astounded. It's not as rich as his mansion. This one is smaller, of course, and simpler, yet still breath-taking. It's very clean, too. "Did you make plans for this house, as well?" I ask, looking around.

Adrian takes my coat. "I did. I wanted to move here when my contract with Katherine would end."

I look at him in surprise. "What would you do with the mansion, then?"

"Leave it to her, most likely. She was a fan of it, not me. I never enjoyed living there, to be honest."

How interesting. "I have dinner waiting for us. We will eat upstairs."

We walk upstairs on the terrace with a crazy view. There's glass around it and it's heated. I walk close to the glass, admiring the view. "Wow." You can see the whole city from here. "This view is crazy. And this house is amazing."

I feel Adrian comes behind me. I see his silhouette in the glass. He's standing right behind me, his hands in the pockets, looking right at me. "Could you see yourself living here?" Adrian asks.

"Pardon?" I ask, thinking I didn't hear him correctly. I turn around.

"You could look at this every day. You could have all of this." His hand makes a circular motion.

"Adrian, I –" I walk away from him. "You can't buy me with these things. I don't care much about materialism. I don't care for all of this. If I decide to be with you, I'm going to be with you for who you are, not what you have. If I wanted your money, I'd probably never even leave the mansion. And until you don't understand and see that, you should not be telling me you want me."

Adrian takes two long steps until he's standing right in front of me. "Cassandra, I don't think you're after my money."

My eyebrow lifts. "You accused me exactly of that. You accused me that I'm in love with your money, not you. And you have no idea how much that hurt when I never, ever even hinted that I want any money I didn't earn from you."

A pained expression appears on his face. "I am so terribly sorry that I said this to you. You have to know that I felt betrayed by your actions and all my life, I had to worry if someone is ever actually going to love me for me. I've always felt like I don't have much to offer as a man, other than money. And I took this out on you. I shouldn't have."

"No. You really should not. I did a wrong thing, I regret it deeply and I apologised. I shouldn't go behind your back."

"We both made some mistakes, Cassandra, but that does not mean we can't fix them, grow and learn from them and move on. Together."

I turn back to the view, not really seeing it this time. "All my life, I have hated rich people. I was raised to loathe wealth because my mother did, too. And when I was at my lowest here in London, I saw exactly why she hated them. They get more and more. While the poor get less and less."

Adrian is looking at me with interest. I see it in the reflection. My eyes lower. "I don't think I'll ever be able to accept how much money you have. A part of me will always feel like I'm not enough, just because of that. I literally have nothing and you ... have so much. I would hate for you to ever think that is the reason you grew so close to my heart."

Adrian puts his hand on my arm. "I can sell it all. I can donate all of the money I have."

I turn to him, my eyes wide. "Would you really?"

"If that would make you happy ... yes. In a heartbeat."

I smile softly. I place my hand on his jaw, unable to stop myself. He subconsciously leans into my touch and that makes my heart skip a few beats. "I don't want you to do that. You earned your money with hard work."

His eyebrows furrow. "I come with that money. I would never see you as the one who's only with me for my money. You worked for me. I know you're all for earning your own money, and you're even fair about it. I don't want the money to be the problem for us, that's why I'd get rid of it if I had to."

My head hangs and I smile. "God, you can be drastic sometimes. You love to go to extremes."

Adrian puts his hand under my chin, lifting my head up so I look at him. "Only with you, it seems. Why don't we sit down and talk over food and a glass of wine?"

I didn't even notice the table in the middle when I came up here. He really put some effort into this. He even lit candles and a single rose is laying next to my plate. "I never had you for a romantic type," I joke.

"With all those romance books you're reading, I realised I had to step my game up." He takes the chair out for me to sit.

I haven't picked up a romantic book in more than a month now. Maybe this is all going to change from today on.